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A. G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball

The Promise of American Sport

Peter Levine

A. G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball

The Promise of American Sport

Peter Levine

Description

A. G. Spalding was a key figure in the professionalization and commercialization of American sports. Co-founder of baseball's National League, owner of the Chicago White Stockings (later Cubs), and founder of a sporting goods business that made him a millionaire, Spalding not only willed baseball to be our national pastime but also contributed to making sport a significant part of American life. This biography captures the zest, flamboyance, and creativity of Albert Goodwell Spalding, a man of insatiable ego, a showman and entrepreneur, whose life illuminated the hopes and fears of 19th-century Americans. It is also a vivid evocation of the vanished world of 19th-century baseball, recreating a time when it was transformed from a game played on unkempt
fields to modern style.

A. G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball

The Promise of American Sport

Peter Levine

Reviews and Awards

"As a study of Spalding's role in the emergence of professional sports, Levine's book is a valuable addition to a fast-growing area of scholarship."--American Historical Review

"A.G. Spalding joins an impressive body of historical writing...which focuses on baseball in pre-World War I America."--Journal of American Culture

"Levine's scholarly biography of Albert Goodwill Spalding fills a large gap in baseball historiography....Well-written and thoughtful....It will long endure as the standard work on Spalding."--Journal of American History